Goins belts grand slam as Jays top Yankees
Ryan Goins hit a grand slam and Russell Martin had a two-run home run as the Toronto Blue Jays dumped the New York Yankees 8-1 on Friday night.
Goins ended Masahiro Tanaka’s night in the sixth inning when he turned on an 0-2 pitch for his eighth homer of the season. Teoscar Hernandez chipped in with a solo shot as Toronto ended New York’s three-game win streak.
Starter Marco Estrada (10-8) worked seven strong innings to help the last-place Blue Jays (72-82) take the opener of the three-game series, which will close out Toronto’s home schedule.
It was the Yankees’ second loss in their last nine games. New York (85-68) is now four games behind first-place Boston in the American League East division standings.
The only hiccup on Estrada’s line was a solo shot by rookie sensation Aaron Judge in the first inning. His 46th homer of the season landed in the second level of seats after travelling a projected 469 feet.
Hernandez did his best Judge impression when the 24-yearold hit a no-doubt moonshot that bounced off the windows in the 300 level in the third inning at Rogers Centre.
TWINS STAY ON TRACK
Max Kepler and Brian Dozier homered, Byron Buxton had three hits and the playoff-chasing Minnesota Twins beat the Tigers 7-3 in Detroit. Detroit announced before the game that manager Brad Ausmus will not be back in 2018.
Minnesota came into the night leading the race for the American League’s second wild-card spot by 21/2 games over Texas and the Los Angeles Angels.
CARDS RALLY PAST PIRATES
Randal Grichuk scored after an error by Pirates shortstop Jordy Mercer, capping a frantic ninthinning rally that lifted the surging St. Louis Cardinals over hometown Pittsburgh 4-3.
The playoff-chasing Cardinals won their fifth straight, despite trailing by a run entering the ninth.
St. Louis began a three-game set in Pittsburgh just 11/2 games behind Colorado for the second wild-card spot in the National League after taking three straight against Cincinnati, a resounding bounce-back after getting swept last weekend by the Chicago Cubs.
RED SOX EXTEND LEAD
Staggered by Scooter Gennett’s grand slam in the first inning, the Boston Red Sox regrouped and finally put some distance between themselves and the Yankees.
Rafael Devers hit a three-run homer, and the Red Sox extended their AL East lead to four games with a 5-4 victory over the Cincinnati Reds.
The Red Sox have won 12 of 15, keeping the Yankees at bay while moving to a season-high 25 games over .500 (89-64). The Red Sox have already clinched a playoff berth and home-field advantage for the wild-card game, if it would come to that. Boston has never played a wild-card game, and doesn’t want to settle for one now.
“The ball’s in our court,” David Price (6-3) said. “We win, we’re fine. We don’t care what the Yankees do. We just go play our game.”